The Gadgette 2015 Christmas gift guide for gamers

Hint, hint

So often when it comes to Christmas, people would ask me what I wanted and I’d think “come on, I’m so easy to buy for, all I ever do is talk about games.” But it turns out that gamers are not all that easy to buy for when there’s so many game-related products out there to have to sift through, so if you have a gamer in your life, or you’re a gamer yourself looking for a bit of inspiration for things you’d like to subtly hint at, we’ve compiled a list to help.

Consoles

This is a pretty obvious one. It’s rare you’re ever going to get a console for super cheap, but around Christmas you’ll usually find the best prices for bundles. These are the best rates we could find. These deals lie outside of Black Friday offers, so bear in mind that it would be best to check if you can get something better in a limited time offer over the weekend.

Playstation 4

A couple of the best deals we’ve been able to find are the 500GB console with the Uncharted: Nathan Drake Collection for £289.95 at John Lewis, and the 500GB console with Fifa 16, Star Wars Battlefront, and a 2 month pass for Now TV movies from Game.

Xbox One

Right now on Zavvi you can get your hands on a limited edition Forza Motorsport 6 1TB console with the game included for £359.99. Game is also doing a very good offer of a 500GB console bundled with Fifa 16, Rise of the Tomb Raider, Elder Scrolls Online, and a 2 month Now TV movies pass for just £299.99.

Nintendo Wii U

The Wii U doesn’t get enough credit sometimes for its games lineup and the fun that can be had with the gamepad. If you’re desperate to give it a go, you can get your hands on the 8GB console plus Super Smash Bros at Smyths for just £179.99. If you’d like a little more in your bundle, head to Amazon where you’ll find the 32GB console, Mario Kart 8, and the Splatoon premium pack for a cracking £229.99.

Nintendo 3DS

For £69.99 right now on Argos, you can get an ice white Nintendo 3DS console plus a game of your choice. Tesco is also selling a limited edition blue 3DS XL with Pokemon X pre-installed for £99.

Games

If you’re dealing with the gamer who has all the hardware, think about some games instead. We’ve opted for games that cover a variety of interests and should hopefully last for a good amount of hours.

Fallout 4

For your free-roaming RPG lover, you can get Fallout 4 on PS4, XBox One, and PC now.

Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate

If you want to know our full thoughts on Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, you can check out our review. Suffice it to say that the game is great fun and one of the must-have titles of the year, available on Playstation 4, Xbox One, and PC.

Super Mario Maker

Super Mario Maker makes a game of making games. Having you take on the role of a Mario level designer this is a game that challenges the imaginations of players of all abilities. Super Mario Maker is available now on Wii U.

Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire

Who doesn’t want to go into the New Year heading off on a Pokemon adventure? These latest instalments to the Pokemon series are great fun and although it’s easy to be cynical about the constant remakes there’s no denying they’re good and the series is still evolving rather than deteriorating, particularly with the visuals the 3DS is able to offer.

My Retro Game Box Subscription

If you or the gamer in your life has a penchant for the more retro side of things, you could always buy a Retro Game Box subscription which will deliver a selection of retro games every month. Definitely find out your giftee’s gaming preferences, though, as you’ll be asked a few questions when buying subscription that will tailor the games they receive to their taste. If that seems a little stressful, they also offer gift cards so that you can take the pressure off. They’ve got subscriptions for almost every console you could wish for, from SNES, to N64, all the way up to the Playstation 2 and prices are tiered with £10, £20, and £50 boxes on offer, so there should be something for everyone.

Clothing

There’s nothing better than an item of clothing or accessory that showcases the thing you love most. Whether you prefer this to be subtle or pretty loud and clear, we’ve probably got something here for you.

Videogame characters give us serious inventory envy. Just how deep must their pockets be? Fortunately there are bags like this Playstation messenger to ease the disappointment and let us carry our key items in style. This bag is from Insert Coin Clothing, costing £45 plus £3.50 delivery.

This hairclip is pretty much the perfect way to pull your hair out of your eyes whilst you line up an explosive headshot. It’s available on ThinkGeek for $9.99 (around £6.50) with international economy shipping available to the UK.

Your canon Commander was probably FemShep, right? She’s clearly the best. Who doesn’t want to be the kickass commander of her own spaceship with excellent space armour to match? You can wear a bit of that space armour here on earth with these leggings from the Bioware store. They’re available in sizes S to XXL and cost $48 (around £32) plus around £15 for shipping.

These console controller necklaces from Etsy are adorable and let any gamer keep their favourite console close to their heart. Plus with multiple controllers being available you can put a show little extra thought by picking their favourite console to play on. The necklaces cost £10.21 each plus £4.31 shipping.

Miscellaneous (that mysterious Sims section)

UK-based Gametee do lots of amazing videogame art for you to buy, but these book cover designs made me squeal with delight. They’re just fantastic nods to some of the best games. They come in at £14.99 each or three for £29.99.

If you know someone who’s not content with only playing games but also has ambitions to make their own this DIY kit from Firebox is the perfect start for them. Combining retro gaming and garage hacking, you make this hand-held console yourself by soldering together all of the parts and then learn to code your own games that you can play. The console comes preloaded with classic games like Snake whose source code you can jump from into creating your own. The DIY console is £64.99 with free delivery.

Lure a videogamer away from the screen with promises of more games. Still videogame themed, of course. This Nintendo Monopoly game is particularly perfect as far as videogame/board game combinations go; there are no two games more likely to lead to relationship destruction than Mario Kart and Monopoly so why not combine them to elicit extra rage? Nintendo Monopoly is available on Amazon for £23.99, which is at the very least cheaper than your average Nintendo videogame.

For other board game suggestions check out some of our favourites here.

We can’t imagine anything better than settling down for a cosy night this winter to play Skyrim, surrounded by the delicious smell of sweet rolls. That’s exactly the kind of night you could give someone with these videogame themed candles from Gametee. With scents like Dwarven Mead, Grass Type, and White Mage (I’m especially curious about that last one) on offer any gaming fan would be happy. Plus, they’re only £4.99 which is much more reasonable price than the curious vague scents that come from Yankee every year.

One for your favourite PC gamer, the keyboard waffle iron will provide the most deliciously geeky waffles possible. It is unfortunately an American keyboard design, but if that dodgy looking enter key isn’t enough to put you off your food, the keyboard waffle iron comes with a recipe book so that you can CTRL ALT EAT on repeat without getting bored. The keyboard waffle iron comes in at $85 (around £56) and ships to the UK for an extra £20.

It can get a little boring being presented with the same standard controller colour variations generation after generation. Black, red, blue, white, and maybe the odd metallic or transparent offering here and there. But for an extra special gaming experience, you could always get someone their very own custom controller. At the very least in group gaming events they’d never come back with someone else’s and its lazy joystick. The Controller Shop offers custom controllers for Xbox One, Playstation 4 and Xbox 360 that you can create in a fun design lab. They’re currently doing Christmas specials which although slightly more limited when it comes to customisation come at a reasonable cost. For guaranteed Christmas delivery and shipping to the UK, a custom controller will cost $240, or £159.

Hopefully with the help of this list you’re one step closer to finding that perfect gift, or maybe now you’ve spent all of your money on yourself. Either way, achievement unlocked.